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Anybody done this? Mep-531a/Mep-501a conversion

CallMeColt

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
1,052
1,519
113
Location
Wilson County, Texas
No kit. I did need to machine down the plate that bolts to the engine itself. The bolts lined up fine, but the shaft was a bit to short to properly mate up with the taper in the generator head. It would work but under load it slipped on the shaft. If I remember, it was ~ 0.025 total removed. Possibly using a shim on the taper would have worked as well.

I did have some issues with removing the original adapter & tapered cap screw at the end of the shaft. This made me have to tap the threads at the end of the shaft as well.

The biggest challenge with this was the remote start & stop. Adding the fuel pump & properly shimming it to get timing better wasn't any easy task. But, if I never messed with that, it would have been much more simple.

12v starter change over was a huge plus as well. Then you just remove one of the pre-heaters from the circuit & no more 24v stuff to worry about.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,298
3,074
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
No kit. I did need to machine down the plate that bolts to the engine itself. The bolts lined up fine, but the shaft was a bit to short to properly mate up with the taper in the generator head. It would work but under load it slipped on the shaft. If I remember, it was ~ 0.025 total removed. Possibly using a shim on the taper would have worked as well.

I did have some issues with removing the original adapter & tapered cap screw at the end of the shaft. This made me have to tap the threads at the end of the shaft as well.

The biggest challenge with this was the remote start & stop. Adding the fuel pump & properly shimming it to get timing better wasn't any easy task. But, if I never messed with that, it would have been much more simple.

12v starter change over was a huge plus as well. Then you just remove one of the pre-heaters from the circuit & no more 24v stuff to worry about.
What was the part number of the gen-head, and where did you buy it at ?
Thanks.
 

DieselGenAC

New member
53
2
0
Location
NJ
The L48s in the 501 and 531s have a J609A interface. Northern Tool currently has one J609A alternator, item 1659200, which appears to be from the Mecc Alte S15W line. These are capacitor regulated which means no external regulator or brushes to worry about. The downside is that adjusting voltage requires changing the big capacitor inside the end cover. These things are on lots of commercial generators so they should be fine for general use. http://www.meccalte.com/downloads/s15w.pdf
 

profo

Active member
428
74
28
Location
jeanerette,la
Saw this posted on YouTube. Anyone here do this? Maybe the guy is a member here?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AgOFNAfPt4I
If you want full wattage at 120 volts that generator has four wires , instead of common tapping two wires 2 to 3, you put wire 1 with wire 3 and tie wire 2 to wire 4 this gives you 120 at full wattage on generator. Instead of seriesing the windings you are parrelel the winding , series gives high voltage at lower current, parelel gives you high current low voltage.
 

CallMeColt

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
1,052
1,519
113
Location
Wilson County, Texas
If you want full wattage at 120 volts that generator has four wires , instead of common tapping two wires 2 to 3, you put wire 1 with wire 3 and tie wire 2 to wire 4 this gives you 120 at full wattage on generator. Instead of seriesing the windings you are parrelel the winding , series gives high voltage at lower current, parelel gives you high current low voltage.
Good to know if I do it again! Thank you.
 
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